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| — Hiccup and Fishlegs discussing the Flightsuit |
Hiccup's Flightsuit is a suit that Hiccup created to glide without Toothless' company. The final design has several practical utilities and supplies incorporated into it beyond flight itself. This includes a dagger, a compass, spare pages for his map, and his sword, Inferno, with spare cartridges of Monstrous Nightmare saliva and Hideous Zippleback gas.
Design
The prototype flightsuit, Dragonfly I.
Dragonfly I
The Dragonfly I is Hiccup's first prototype of the flightsuit. It's introduced in "The Next Big Sting", and also seen again briefly in "Gruff Around the Edges".
It consists of a complex set of gears fixed to two pairs of red wings. One pair is slightly larger than the other. On one of the wings, you can find the same white skull found on Toothless' prosthetic tail fin. Hiccup has to wear it on his back like a backpack.
The Dragonfly I has difficulty taking off and gliding in the air. Hiccup has to wait until the wind was strong enough and have some luck to glide properly. Hiccup failed numerous times and Toothless always faithfully saved him. Tuffnut referred to it as a "Plummet Suit" on its maiden flight, as that's what it did. Hiccup had also tried to install some equipment to it that would allow him to steer, but it failed, so Toothless had to save him again.
Dragonfly II
The Dragonfly II.
The Dragonfly II looks similar to Dragonfly I. However, this new prototype is inspired by the webbed feet of a Speed Stinger.
The Dragonfly II is also red and has one large pair of wings. Hiccup has to strap them to his wrists and chain the other end to his ankles before jumping off Toothless. The Dragonfly II is also worn like a backpack.
Dragonfly II has improved significantly since the first prototype. Hiccup can glide further, faster, smoother and maneuver it better than the Dragonfly I. He can change directions in the air, turn around, glide downwards and even flip his body in mid-air.
Another modified version of Dragonfly II is seen in "A Time to Skrill". This one folds onto Hiccup's back and spreads all the way across instead of just his side. Hiccup uses it to fly safely onto Skullcrusher's back after the Skrill's and Toothless' blasts collide. This is the first time that Stoick sees Hiccup's Flightsuit. Hiccup uses it again in "Edge of Disaster, Part 2", and it helps him get the wild dragons to realize that he's not that different from them. Tuffnut uses it while fighting Gruffnut, who attempted to throw it into the ocean from Barf and Belch in "Gruff Around the Edges". But Hiccup and Toothless dove to catch it.
Though not seen, Astrid mentions it in "Sandbusted" and says that it's made from yak hides.
Final Design
Hiccup's flightsuit.
The Flightsuit is the culmination of all the work Hiccup put into his flying harness.
The suit incorporates the leather belt structure of his original harness. The higher belt has a small disc-like device on it which allows Hiccup to extend the dorsal fin on his back. It consists of a spring coil with a sensitive calibration which Astrid has been known to push several times. The lower belt has a carabiner which allows him to attach himself to Toothless in case he falls off mid-flight. His flightsuit, however, does not include his black armor, which is different and is not attached to the flightsuit.
The suit has several integrated pieces that allow him to carry equipment without bags or other bulky accouterments.
- Hiccup keeps a dagger on his left bracer. He uses it to sharpen his charcoal pencil.
- There are spare pages for his map located in the flap under his right bracer.
- A compass is mounted just behind the bracer on his right arm. It is protected by a metal cover to keep it from being damaged.
- His sword, Inferno, is mounted to a sheath that lines his right thigh, where he can easily draw it with his right hand.
- His ankle straps have pouches on them that carry spare Nightmare saliva and Zippleback gas to refill the sword.
- Hiccup's map is kept under his chest plate.
The Flightsuit appears briefly at the beginning of The Serpent's Heir when he separates from Toothless to save two children that were in the way of a rampaging Thunderclaw. Hiccup removes his flightsuit when confronting the Silkspanners in Dragonvine.
Gliding
The primary purpose of Hiccup's Flightsuit is to glide alongside Toothless and acts as a backup in case they get separated in the air or if Hiccup falls off. The suit is activated by grasping the hoops on either side of Hiccup's legs and pulling his wrists through them. When the hoops are pulled, leathery flaps come out of pouches along his sides. When Hiccup holds his arms out straight, the flaps are held tight and serve as gliding surfaces. He has a central fin along his back that serves as a stabilizer. The release mechanism is located on the right side of his chest: a coil that, when pushed, extends the fin.
When in the air, Hiccup uses his airspeed to glide, controlling the flow of air with the wing flaps. By lifting his arms, lowering them, and turning them in different directions, he controls his attitude. By putting his arms back to his sides, the flaps fold back and permit him to dive straight downward. After years of practicing on Toothless' back, he is able to keep his body in the optimum streamlined position to glide.
Toothless, being now riderless, has his prosthetic tail fin locked before Hiccup leaves his saddle. In this setup, Toothless' flight is possible yet limited by the fixed tail fin.
The Flightsuit does not permit Hiccup to fly, obviously; he has no force to increase his lift. He merely uses his airspeed to maximize his glide-out time. He can still use air currents to maneuver. This includes using columns of warm air to rise into the air. Toothless uses clever shots of his plasma to generate small explosions below and in front of Hiccup's glide path, giving him slight increases in speed and altitude.
All things considered, (as of How to Train Your Dragon 2) Hiccup is still a novice at flying and has difficulty performing complex maneuvers. Most of his flights end in the same way: Toothless swooping in to save him from crashing head-long into something very, very hard.
After landing, Hiccup folds the wing flaps back into the pouches at his sides, clipping the wrist hoops into place with metal snaps. The release mechanism for the dorsal fin also acts to retract it. The device includes a rotating mechanism that pulls the fin back into place. Although the device could never work in real life it would tip and he does fall through but he would need a tail fin to actually fly.
Appearances
| Films and Shorts | ||||||||||||
| "How to Train Your Dragon": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon 2": | Appears | |||||||||
| "Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon": | Absent | "Dawn of the Dragon Racers": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Book of Dragons (Short)": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Gift of the Night Fury": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming": | Absent | |||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 1 | |||||||||
| 1. "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 1": | Absent | 8. "Crushing It": | Absent | ||||||
| 2. "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 2": | Absent | 9. "Quake, Rattle and Roll": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Imperfect Harmony": | Absent | 10. "Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "When Darkness Falls": | Absent | 11. "Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Big Man on Berk": | Absent | 12. "The Next Big Sting": | Appears | ||||||
| 6. "Gone Gustav Gone": | Absent | 13. "Total Nightmare": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Reign of Fireworms": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 2 | |||||||||
| 1. "Team Astrid": | Absent | 8. "Edge of Disaster, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
| 2. "Night of the Hunters, Part 1": | Absent | 9. "Edge of Disaster, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
| 3. "Night of the Hunters, Part 2": | Absent | 10. "Shock and Awe": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Bad Moon Rising": | Absent | 11. "A Time to Skrill": | Appears | ||||||
| 5. "Snotlout Gets the Axe": | Absent | 12. "Maces and Talons, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "The Zippleback Experience": | Absent | 13. "Maces and Talons, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Snow Way Out": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 3 | |||||||||
| 1. "Enemy of My Enemy": | Absent | 8. "Stryke Out": | Absent | ||||||
| 2. "Crash Course": | Absent | 9. "Tone Death": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Follow the Leader": | Absent | 10. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Turn and Burn": | Appears | 11. "Family on the Edge": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Buffalord Soldier": | Absent | 12. "Last Auction Heroes": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "A Grim Retreat": | Absent | 13. "Defenders of the Wing, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "To Heather or Not to Heather": | Appears | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 4 | |||||||||
| 1. "Defenders of the Wing, Part 2": | Absent | 8. "Gold Rush": | Absent | ||||||
| 2. "Gruff Around the Edges": | Appears | 9. "Out of the Frying Pan": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Midnight Scrum": | Absent | 10. "Twintuition": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Not Lout": | Absent | 11. "Blindsided": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Saving Shattermaster": | Absent | 12. "Shell Shocked, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "Dire Straits": | Absent | 13. "Shell Shocked, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "The Longest Day": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 5 | |||||||||
| 1. "Living on the Edge": | Absent | 8. "The Wings of War, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 2. "Sandbusted": | Mentioned | 9. "The Wings of War, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Something Rotten on Berserker Island": | Absent | 10. "No Dragon Left Behind": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Snotlout's Angels": | Absent | 11. "Snuffnut: | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "A Matter of Perspective": | Absent | 12. "Searching for Oswald... and Chicken": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "Return of Thor Bonecrusher": | Absent | 13. "Sins of the Past": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Dawn of Destruction": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 6 | |||||||||
| 1. "In Plain Sight": | Absent | 8. "Triple Cross": | Absent | ||||||
| 2. "No Bark, All Bite": | Absent | 9. "Family Matters": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Chain of Command": | Absent | 10. "Darkest Night": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Loyal Order of Ingerman": | Absent | 11. "Guardians of Vanaheim": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "A Gruff Separation": | Absent | 12. "King of Dragons, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "Mi Amore Wing": | Absent | 13. "King of Dragons, Part 2": | Background | ||||||
| 7. "Ruff Transition": | Appears | ||||||||
| Graphic Novels | ||||||||||||
| "Burning Midnight": | Absent | "Dragonvine": | Absent | |||||||||
| "The Serpent's Heir": | Appears | "The Fire Tides": | Absent | |||||||||
| Games | ||||||||||||
| "Dragons: Rise of Berk": | Absent | "School of Dragons": | Appears | |||||||||
| "How to Train Your Dragon": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon 2": | Absent | |||||||||
| "DreamWorks Dragons: Wild Skies": | Absent | "DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Dragons: Titan Uprising": | Absent | "Dragons Hero Portal": | Absent | |||||||||
| "DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of The Nine Realms": | Absent | |||||||||||
Trivia
- There is a Deadly Nadder symbol on the strapline secured across Hiccup's chest on his final suit. It's purposely aligned with the position of his heart and is meant to be a nod to his eventual wife Astrid.
- According to the artbook: "His flightsuit, designed to be the equivalent of Viking biker leather, was conceived to look like an evolution of Hiccup's own design sense - functional and aerodynamic, but also a bit geeky and over the top from his girlfriend's perspective."
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